The Dailies. February 17
Did you work on your language today? Create any new rules of grammar or syntax? New progress on a script? New words in your lexicon?
On the other hand, do any excavating or reading or enjoying stuff you’ve already created? Do you have any favorites to share?
How did you conlang today?
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6 thoughts on “The Dailies. February 17”
Some new words in Beldreeni:
nāli (adj) ’round’ – This one doesn’t much look/sound like its meaning, but I like that
kufa (n) ‘wheel’ – The intended protagonist’s father is a wainwright, so I’m glad I’ve got this word now
kitanga (adj) ‘stony’ – Primarily used for terrain, road, soil; there’s a metaphorical usage with the meaning ‘tricky, problematic, full of obstacles’ as well. There’s no equivalence of the English “stony expression” meaning.
kobe (n) ‘seed’
kobemimal (n) lit. ‘seed name’ – the name a child gets at birth, which the person’s later names will often (but by no means always!) be thematically or phonetically related to
Incidentally I now think I know what the protagonist’s first three names were: Nāli for her birth name (her mother wanted “Tanganāli”, ’round stone’ first, but was talked around); Kubeifa (‘little wheel’) for her first Winter Name/Town Name; and Kitanga for her ‘shadow name’ during early-mid puberty before her coming of age, which should take place during the story. Kitanga would not be considered a good name to pick for an adult or a young child, but for a shadow name it works well.
Also, I realised something about Beldreeni. If you want a double negative in a predicative phrase, it can be done, but only if you use a dummy word like ukusu, ‘fact’. This because the copula doesn’t take a negative, unlike other words. and Beldreeni doesn’t really use negative prefixes like English does, only the –dhze– infix. That negative infix on the main predicate word can only make a single negative, not a double one.
So for instance:
hemomo (adj) ‘usual, common, ordinary’
hemodzhemo (adj) ‘unusual, uncommon’
Hemomo wai. (That’)s usual/common/ordinary. (Polite style)
Hemodzhemo wai. That’s unusual OR That isn’t usual. (Polite style)
Ukudzhesu hemodzhemo wai. That’s not unusual. (Polite style)
Lit. “not-fact not-usual is”.
At least, that’s how I think it is right now. It seems to make sense. I hope I haven’t forgotten something important related to this that’s hidden in my notes somewhere…
Nice going!
Do you have any examples of a seed name and a related grownup name? Just curious.
I do! I did for three people, actually, which I made up just to have name examples. But that was on the Worldbuilding comm on Imzy which is lost now, otherwise I’d link to it. It’s a bit long to put here for all three, so I’ll just do it for one of them.
Birth name: Toleiros (tol ‘day’, toleiros ‘dawn’)
First Winter Name/First Town Name: Tolrana (rana means ‘mountain’; the town in question is located on a high hill/low mountain)
Second Summer Name: Tolayö (ayö ‘sun’) – Note, many children don’t get these, and they are usually more nicknames that just happen to come about rather than names picked after deliberation like the other names
“Shadow Name” (name during puberty): Tolrume (rume ‘cloud’). Picked by the person herself but approved by her parents, this is a pretty neat form since it not only builds on her birth name but is a kind of literal shadow name, too, with clouds covering the sun! Although in another way it’s atypical for shadow names, as it is rather gentle and could work as an adult name. Shadow names tend to be fairly overblown, angsty, earnest, bragging, full of youthful romanticism. That’s normal.
Adult Name: Toliko (iko ‘true’, so “True Day”). Picked by the person herself and approved by the clan chief who bestows it on her in a coming of age ceremony. She took some time to decide on this, which is also fairly normal.
Very cool. Such an interesting, intricate system.
I think nali sounds like it’s meaning! But then I have different associations than most people I know.
I love the naming system, the politeness levels, and the complexity of the double negative. I love how your language feels lived in. (Something I love about any conlang that pulls it off, but yours does.)
Aww. I’m so glad to hear that!!
To be honest I also think that nali sounds like round now, but I didn’t initially!